Candidates run uncontested for positions in the spring CC elections

On Tuesday, College Council (CC) presidents Adrian Castro ’14 and Max Heninger ’14 emailed the candidates for CC elections to the student body.

Emily Dzieciatko ’15 and Erica Moszkowski ’15 are the only candidates running for co-presidents. In their self-nomination, they cite Dzieciatko’s roles as treasurer and assistant treasurer, and Moszkowski’s experience as vice president of student affairs as being important qualifications for their positions. “We hope to use our vision, creativity and drive to make CC as relevant and efficient as possible,” they wrote in their self-nomination.

The last time a CC presidential election was uncontested predates the current co-president ticket format. In 2006, Godfrey Bakuli ’07 and Suranjit Tilakawardane ’07 each ran unopposed for president and vice

president, respectively (“Bakuli only CC prez candidate,” Feb. 15 2006). Before that, the last uncontested CC presidential election was in 1998, when Michael Hickey ’00 and Matthew Drukker ’99 ran a write-in candidacy. “A single candidate election does not facilitate at-large student awareness of issues, debate about possible solutions, nor the expression of student opinion through the casting of a vote that reflects a conscious decision,” Drukker said at the time (“Uncontested elections stir debate,” March 10, 1998).

The double ticket of Teddy Cohan ’16 and Andrew Chou ’17 is the only candidate for treasurer. If elected, Cohan will serve as treasurer in the spring and Chou will serve in the fall of 2014. “One concern with Finance Committee is that we cut budgets arbitrarily and don’t consider the actual need of the students and organizations,” Cohan and Chou said in their self-nomination. “We think that by being more transparent and further incorporating the club leaders into the budgeting process we can resolve this concern.”

There is one candidate each for the positions of vice president of operations, vice president for community and diversity, vice president for academic affairs, vice president for student organizations and vice president for student affairs. Additionally, there are only four nominees for class of 2014 representative, and four nominees for class of 2015 representative. Usually, CC has four representatives from each class, and this means that there is no competition for representative positions for these two class years. The election of the class of 2016 and class of 2017 representatives will be contested; there are five candidates for class of 2016 representative and six candidates for class of 2017 representative. The position of assistant treasurer is the only other contested position in the current crop of CC nominees. Mike Druker ’17 and Victoria Onuzuruike ’17 will compete to be elected to the position.

“The presidential ticket, treasurer, and one of the vice presidential spots were actually contested. but withdrew before we submitted the candidates to the student body,” Castro said. “The students who pulled out realized after submitting that they wouldn’t have enough time to fully devote themselves to CC. ”

“On the surface, it might seem very jarring that there aren’t very many contested positions,” Heninger said. “But I think if we look at it in terms of the history of CC, it makes sense. Last year, we created a lot of new VP positions that have broad powers and carry a lot of responsibility. Students feel like they need previous CC experience to run for VP. In the future, we hope that people from all walks of leadership will feel like they have something to contribute.”

Today, there will be a “Meet the Candidates” session in Baxter Hall. On Sunday, the Record will moderate a debate between CC candidates. Elections will take place between Feb. 20 and Feb. 22.